In western China seismic wave fi elds are very complicated and have low signal to noise ratio. In this paper, we focus on complex wave fi eld research by forward modeling and indicate that density should not be ignored in wave field simulation if the subsurface physical properties are quite different. We use the acoustic wave equation with density in the staggered fi nite-difference method to simulate the wave fi elds. For this purpose a complicated geologic structural model with rugged surfaces, near-surface low-velocity layers, and highvelocity outcropping layers was designed. Based on the instantaneous wave fi eld distribution, we analyzed the mechanism forming complex wave fields. The influence of low velocity layers on the wave fi eld is very strong. A strong waveguide occurs between the top and base of a low velocity layer, producing multiples which penetrate into the earth and form strong complex wave fi elds in addition to refl ections from subsurface interfaces. For verifying the correctness of the simulated wave fields, prestack depth migration was performed using different algorithms from the forward modeling. The structure revealed by the stacked migration profi le is same as the known structure.